Password managers: Easy ways to keep your data safe

Keeping your important data safe is imperative for all businesses, but what busy executive or manager has time to memorise dozens of passwords? Solve your security issues with the help of a simple and secure password manager.

Looking after your data

The recent Heartbleed bug is a chilling reminder that even the passwords you assume to be safe can be vulnerable. It's also a reminder that you should never be using the same password across a variety of sites.

When a bug like Heartbleed compromises a merchant site, it’s bad news for anyone who has an account. But the news is much worse for anyone who uses the same password across more than one site. They are essentially handing the attacker the keys to their front door, their car and their holiday home in one fell swoop. The only way to avoid this is to ensure you have a strong and completely unique password for every site you use.

This can be a major headache for businesses and a real time sink for employees who struggle to remember logins for the dozens of sites they might use in a week. Luckily, a good password manager can provide the necessary protection without any of the pain.

Choosing a password manager

An excellent tool for the time-poor, a password manager saves you from having to remember separate passwords for all of your frequently visited sites. A good password manager will also store your email address, usernames and even credit card information (if you want it to) and will be capable of auto-filling web forms – perfect for cutting down time spent on repetitive admin tasks.

Businesses looking for password managers should also choose tools that offer additional security options, such as the ability to save to the cloud in an encrypted format and to generate complicated passwords for you. If you use a variety of devices, you'll also want one that syncs across a number of platforms.

Managers such as Passpack and Zoho Vault are geared towards business users and offer a simple interface and strong security options.

Making the most of your manager

It's worth remembering that no matter how good your password manager is, it will only be as strong as you make it. Don’t impede your high-tech tool by setting up your manager with a weak password to begin with.

Create a unique and difficult-to-guess combination of characters for your password manager, safe in the knowledge that it will be the only one you need to remember for quite some time.